Here comes the judge: Give Conrad a fair shot

Not every Clemson graduate can become an editorial writer.

Some must settle for becoming a doctor, architect, inventor, tycoon, pro athlete, captain of industry, engineer, university president or Secret Service agent. One local Clemson grad, as revealed in Thursday's Preview section, is even the founder of Scooby Doos, an enterprise that minimizes the risks of soiling shoes on canine waste.

And now a Clemson grad might become a federal appeals court judge — a judicial pinnacle surpassed only by becoming a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Only petty partisan politics could block Bobby Conrad's shot at that lofty goal. Officially known as Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. of the Western District of North Carolina, based in Charlotte, he would be a fine addition to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.

How does this Clemson grad know that?

Because Bobby's character and intelligence made such positive, lasting impressions on me when we were fellow history majors and German minors at Clemson long ago — and because his sterling subsequent achievements deliver strong confirmation that he deserves Senate confirmation.

A gritty point guard (lots of assists given and charges taken, few turnovers) from Glen Ellyn, Ill., Conrad drove the 1980 Tigers to the Elite Eight. After graduating that spring, he started a winning streak on a different court, climbing from the University of Virginia School of Law to private practice to assistant U.S. attorney to chief of the Justice Department's Campaign Financing Task Force to U.S. attorney to federal district judge to federal chief district judge.

The 2000-01 investigation that he led of contributions to the 1996 Clinton re-election campaign produced more than 30 prosecutions and the largest campaign-finance fine ($8.6 million) ever imposed in the felony conviction of James Riady. Former Attorney General Janet Reno hailed Conrad as "one person who deserves a great deal of credit for the success of the investigation," adding: "I am impressed with his judgment."

So is South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who told me Thursday that both Republican and Democratic lawyers who've appeared in Conrad's court "have nothing but glowing things to say about his judicial temperament as well as his knowledge of the law."

Nominated by President Bush in July, Conrad drew a unanimous "well qualified" rating (the highest available) from the American Bar Association, which isn't in the habit of approving right-wing ideologues. He's even got 4th Circuit experience, occasionally sitting "by designation" on that shorthanded — five of its 15 positions are vacant — court.

So why isn't his confirmation a slam dunk?

Because, as reported in Wednesday's Legal Times, the 4th Circuit's "even split" of GOP and Democratic presidential appointees puts intense stakes on the confirmation fights to fill those five vacancies.

The favorite ammunition of Conrad's left-wing critics: He wrote a Charlotte Observer op-ed piece titled "Planned Parenthood, A Radical, Pro-Abortion Fringe Group," and a letter to the Catholic Dossier calling the book "Dead Man Walking," by Sister Helen Prejean, "liberal drivel."

Then again, he wrote the former nearly two decades ago and the latter nearly one decade ago. That ammo's stale.

OK, so Conrad's renowned judgment didn't peak with his writing of those feisty words. But as Graham warns, we'll get only "Milquetoast" judges if we bar all nominees who've ever dared "to give forceful opinions on controversial issues."

OK, so Republican senators used full-court presses against some of President Clinton's judicial nominations, too. But to further overextend the basketball theme, neither political side ultimately wins with relentless "make-up" calls — whereby a bad call against one team triggers a compensatory bad call against the other — on court appointments.

Shouldn't Conrad at least get a confirmation-hearing chance to explain himself?

Shouldn't what he's done as a prosecutor and judge count for much more than anything he wrote in 1989 or 1998?

Hasn't the former Clemson Tiger shown admirable tolerance in supporting the decision of son Branden — a transfer from the Naval Academy — to play basketball (he's a guard, too) for the dreaded South Carolina Gamecocks starting this season?

Clearly, Judge Conrad has an open mind — and deserves an open shot at this promotion.

Graham's expert, upbeat assessment:

"If I had to rate him in terms of confirmability, I'd put him in the 'A' category."

So would Brian Mack. A teen drug defendant when he first met Conrad the prosecutor 15 years earlier, Mack offered this telling tribute at Conrad's 2005 "investiture" as a federal judge: "From the day I was released from prison, he contacted me to make sure that I stayed in the right path. He's been more than a mentor to me. He's been a friend."

And soon, Mack should have a friend on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Frank Wooten is associate editor of The Post and Courier. His e-mail is wooten@postandcourier.com.